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proceedings may show cause against granting the prayer of the petition, and may disprove any of the facts alleged in it. The court shall hear the proofs and allegations of the parties, and if no sufficient cause is shown against granting the prayer of the petition, it shall make an order for the appointment of three disinterested and competent freeholders, who reside in the county or some adjoining county where the premises to be appraised are situated, commissioners to ascertain and appraise the compensation to be made to the owners or persons interested in the real estate proposed to be taken in such county for the purposes of the company, and to fix the time and place for the first meeting of the commissioners.

§ 3. The sixteenth section of said act is hereby amended to read as follows:

§ 16. The commissioners shall take and subscribe the oath prescribed by the twelfth article of the constitution. Any one of them may issue subpoenas and administer oaths to witnesses; a majority of them may adjourn the proceedings before them, from time to time, in their discretion. Whenever they meet, except by the appointment of the court or pursuant to adjournment, they shall cause reasonable notice of such meetings to be given to the parties interested, or their agent or attorney. They shall view the premises described in the petition, and hear the proofs and allegations of the parties, and reduce the testimony taken by them, if any, to writing, and after the testimony in such case is closed, they or a majority of them, all being present, shall, without any unnecessary delay, and before proceeding to the examination of any other claim, ascertain and determine the compensation which ought justly to be made by the company to the owners or persons interested in the real estate appraised by them; and in fixing the amount of such compensation, said commissioners shall not make any allowance or deduction on account of any real or supposed benefits which the parties in interest may derive from the construction of the proposed railroad, or the construction of the proposed improvement connected with such road, for which such real estate may be taken. They, or a majority of them, shall also determine what sum ought to be paid to the general or special guardian or committee of an infant, idiot, or person of unsound mind, or to an attorney appointed by the court to attend to the interests of any unknown owner or party in interest, not personally served with notice of the proceedings, and who has not appeared, for costs, expenses and counsel fees. The said commissioners shall make a report of their proceedings to the supreme court, with the minutes of the testimony taken by them, if any; and they shall each be entitled to five dollars for their ser

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vices and expenses for every day they are actually engaged in the performance of their duties, to be paid by the company.

§ 4. In case any railroad company, the line or route of whose road has been surveyed and designated, and the certificate thereof duly filed as required by law, is unable to agree for the purchase of any real estate required for its roadway, the said corporation shall have the right to acquire title to the same by the special proceedings prescribed in the act hereby amended; and all real estate acquired by any railroad corporation, under and pursuant to the provisions of this act, for the objects and purposes herein expressed, shall be deemed to be acquired for public use. But this section shall not be so construed as to apply to any real estate in the city of Buffalo, situate between Main and Michigan streets.

§ 5. In all cases of appraisal under this act and the act hereby amended, where the mode or manner of conducting all or any of the proceedings to the appraisal and the proceedings consequent thereon are not expressly provided for by the statute, the courts before whom such proceedings may be pending shall have the power to make all the necessary orders and give the proper directions to carry into effect the object and intent of this and the aforesaid act; and the practice in such cases shall conform as near as may be to the ordinary practice in such courts.

§ 6. When any proceedings of appraisal shall have been commenced, no change of ownership by voluntary conveyance or transfer of the real estate or any interest therein, or of the subject matter of the appraisal, shall in any manner affect such proceedings, but the same may be carried on and perfected, as if no such conveyance or transfer had been made or attempted to be made.

§ 7. A bell shall be placed on each locomotive engine run on any railroad, and rung at the distance of at least eighty rods from the place where the railroad shall cross any traveled public road or street on the same level with the railroad, and be kept ringing until it shall have crossed such road or street; or a steam whistle shall be attached to each locomotive engine and be sounded at least eighty rods from the place where the railroad shall cross any such traveled public road or street upon the same level with the railroad, except in cities, and be sounded at intervals until it shall have crossed such road or street; and every neglect to comply with the foregoing provisions shall subject the corporation owning the railroad to a fine not exceeding twenty dollars, in the discretion of the court having cognizance of the offense; and every engineer having charge of the engine, for every neglect to comply with the requirements aforesaid, shall be fined

lot exceeding fifty dollars, or imprisoned in the county jail not exceeding sixty days, in the discretion of the court before which any indictment may be tried; and the said corporation shall, moreover, be liable for all damages which shall be sustained by any person by reason of such neglect.

All the penalties hereinbefore mentioned may be sued for in the name of the people of the state of New York, by the district attorney of the county wherein the same shall accrue, within ten days thereafter; and in case such district attorney shall omit or neglect to sue for such fine or fines within the time aforesaid, then it may and shall be lawful for any person aggrieved to sue therefor in the name of the overseers of the poor of the town wherein any such fine or fines shall have accrued, which, when recovered, shall be paid to the said overseers of the poor, for the benefit of the poor of said town. And in case such persons shall fail to make out and maintain any such action, it shall be the duty of the court before whom any such action shall be had to enter a judgment against the complainant for the costs of said action.

§ 8. Every railroad corporation, whose line of road is open for use, shall, within three months after the passage of this act, and every railroad company formed or to be formed, but whose lines are not now open for use, shall, before the lines of such railroad are opened, erect and thereafter maintain fences on the side of their roads, of the height and strength of a division fence, as required by law, with openings or gates or bars therein at the farm crossings of such railroad, for the use of the proprietors of the lands adjoining such railroads, and shall also construct, where the same has not already been done, and hereafter maintain, cattle guards at all road crossings, suitable and sufficient to prevent cattle, horses, sheep and hogs from getting on to such railroad. And so long as such fences and cattle guards shall not be made, and when not in good repair, such railroad corporation and its agents shall be liable for damages which shall be done by the agents or engines of any such corporation to any cattle, horses, sheep or hogs thereon; and when such fences and guards shall have been duly made, and shall be kept in good repair, such railroad corporation shall not be liable for any such damages, unless negligently or willfully done. A sufficient post and wire fence of requisite height shall be deemed a lawful fence, within the provisions of this section; but no railroad corporation shall be required to fence the sides of its roads, except when such fence is necessary to prevent horses, cattle, sheep and hogs from getting on to the track of the railroad from the lands adjoining the same.

§ 9. But it shall be the duty of every owner of land adjoining any railroad, who has received, or whose grantor has received, a specific sum as compensation for fencing along the line of land taken for the purpose of said railroad, and has agreed to build and maintain a lawful fence on the line of said road, to build and maintain such fence; and if said owner, his heir or assign, shall not build said fence within thirty days after he has been notified so to do by the said railroad corporation, or shall neglect to maintain said fences, if built, said corporations shall build and thereafter maintain such fence, and may maintain a civil action against the person so neglecting to build or maintain said fence, to recover the expense thereof.

§ 10. Every railroad company which shall have had unclaimed freight, not perishable, in its possession for a period of one year at least, may proceed to sell the same at public auction, and out of the proceeds may retain the charges of transportation and storage of such freight, and the expenses of advertising and sale thereof; but no such sale shall be made until the expiration of four weeks from the first publication of notice of such sale in the state paper, and also in a newspaper published at or nearest the place at which such freight was directed to be left, and also at the place where such sale is to take place; and said notice shall contain a description of such freight, the place at which and the time when the same was left, as near as may be, together with the name of the owner or person to whom consigned, if known; and the expenses incurred for advertising shall be a lien upon such freight, in a ratable proportion, according to the value of each article or package or parcel, if more than one.

§ 11. In case such unclaimed freight shall, in its nature, be perishable, then the same may be sold as soon as it can be, on giving the notice required in the preceding section, after its receipt at the place where it was directed to be left.

§ 12. Such railroad company shall make an entry of the balance of the proceeds of the sale, if any, of each parcel of freight owned by or consigned to the same person, as near as can be ascertained, and at any time within five years thereafter shall refund any surplus so retained to the owner of such freight, his heirs or assigns, on satisfactory proof of such ownership.

§ 13. Whenever two railroad companies shall, for a portion of their respective lines, embrace the same location of line, or whenever, by the connection of two or more railroads, the same points of termination are reached by railroad communication, any two such railroads may, by agreement, provide for the construction of so much of said line as is common to both of them by one of the companies, and for

the manner and terms upon which the business thereon shall be performed. Any road so connecting may alter and amend its articles of association, so as to terminate at the point of intersection, and may reduce its capital to a sum not less than ten thousand dollars for each mile of the road constructed, or proposed to be constructed, in such amended articles of association. This section shall not be so construed as to apply to any railroad company or companies, so far as its or their line of road or roads are within the bounds of any incorporated city of this state.

§ 14. Every railroad corporation in this state shall, within thirty days after this act shall take effect, designate some person, residing in each of the counties through or into which such railroad may run, on whom process to be issued by a justice of the peace may be served, and shall file such designation in the office of the clerk of the county where the person so designated shall reside, and a copy of such designation, duly certified by such clerk, shall be evidence of such appointment, and the service of any process upon the person so designated or named, to be issued by any justice of the peace in any civil action or matter of which such justice may have jurisdiction, shall be as valid and effectual as if served upon the president or any director of any such corporation, as now provided by law.

§ 15. In all cases where such designation shall not be made as aforesaid, and where no officer of such corporation shall reside in the county on whom process can be served according to the existing provisions of law, the process mentioned in the next preceding section may be served on any local superintendent of repairs, freight agent, agent to sell tickets, or station keeper of such corporation, residing in such county, which service shall be as effectual in all respects as if made on the president or any director of such corporation.

§ 16. The tenth section of the act entitled "An act to authorize the formation of railroad corporations, and to regulate the same," passed April 2, 1850, is hereby amended to read as follows:

§ 10. Each stockholder of any company formed under this act shall be individually liable to the creditors of such company, to an amount equal to the amount unpaid on the stock held by him, for all the debts and liabilities of such company, until the whole amount of the capital stock so held by him shall have been paid to the company, and all the stockholders of any such company shall be jointly and severally liable for the debts due or owing to any of its laborers and servants, other than contractors, for personal services for thirty days' service performed for such company, but shall not be liable to an action therefor before an execution shall be returned unsatisfied, in

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